Las Vegas Feb. Home Sales Highest in Four Years

From DQNews -- Las Vegas region February home sales fell just shy of their 16-year average but were still the highest for that month in four years as investors and first-time buyers continued to dominate the market. Other highlights include:

1. Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – fell to 59.6% of all resales in February, down from 62% in January and down from 70.6% a year ago.

2. A total of 3,698 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area in February, up 9.8% from January and up 10.5% from a year earlier (see chart above). A rise in sales between January and February is normal for the season, with the gain averaging 5.7% since 1994.

3. February’s sales total was the highest for that month since February 2006, when 6,065 homes sold, but it was 2.0% lower than the average February sales tally back to 1994.

4. Last month marked the 18th in a row in which total sales rose on a year-over-year basis.

5. The number of existing houses and condos that resold (excludes new homes) in February rose to 3,311, up 7.1% from January and up 9.5% from a year earlier to the highest point since 3,875 resales in February 2005.

6. Existing-home resales have risen on a year-over-year basis for 22 straight months.

7. The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in February was $126,197, up 0.4% from $125,750 in January but down 17.2% from $152,500 a year earlier (see chart above). The year-over-year decline was the smallest since March 2008, when the median dropped 16.0% from a year earlier, to $247,925.